The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco ★★★☆☆

That just about sums up the book.  

An impressive level of research and love of history went into this book.  But if you don’t share Echo’s niche love of medieval ecclesiastical history the book is tear-out-your-hair frustrating.  

“Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry. When we consider a book, we mustn’t ask ourselves what it says but what it means…”

Well, there’s the rub.  I didn’t find a moral-to-the-story, more an-angry-at-the-world.  

And the ending, good lord!  If your town needs an investigator you are better off with an Inquisitor than Brother William of Baskerville.  They may not get it right, but they will get somebody, pacify the people with their certainty, and leave.  

This book joins the short list of 

The Movie Was Better:

The Hunt for the Red October

The Virgin Suicides

Jaws